


the only one i can trust

by reigenonice (TardisType221b)



Category: Fire Emblem: Soen no Kiseki/Akatsuki no Megami | Fire Emblem Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Caretaking, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, One Shot, Past Abuse, Slavery, Trust Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-05
Updated: 2021-01-05
Packaged: 2021-03-16 08:22:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,185
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28578939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TardisType221b/pseuds/reigenonice
Summary: Any person he had ever encountered hated him, even ones that were nice at first. Once his heritage was discovered he was shunned, he was tossed out, he was beaten. Or in the case of the slavers, taken.No one had ever said it didn't matter. No one had ever looked at him beyond the mark.No one had ever protected him.No one exceptIke.~*~Soren is taken by laguz slavers on his journey to find Ike and has almost lost all hope.Mostly takes place in Chapter 14 of Path of Radiance
Relationships: Ike/Senerio | Soren
Comments: 4
Kudos: 29
Collections: IkeSoren Week 2021





	the only one i can trust

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kissingshot](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kissingshot/gifts).



> Written for IkeSoren Week 2021 Day 2 - Fear/Trust
> 
> \---
> 
> Thank you candle for putting this event together and getting me to actually write something :) This fic is for you!

_Bang!_

Soren woke up with a start as he was jostled inside of his tiny crate, his head having hit the side with a sickening thud. It was throbbing, his muscles were cramped, and pain was reverberating throughout his body.

His captors only let him and the other slaves out once a day to relieve themselves, and that hadn't happened just yet so he couldn't have been asleep for very long. 

Another day, another owner. He was a commodity, the rarest branded in the whole continent of Tellius. But he refused to give in, no matter what, and that led to a frequent change of ownership. Humans, Subhumans, they were all sickening. 

He didn't even know what he was at the time, just setting off on his journey to find Ike.

Ike.

The only person worth even giving a damn about, Ike who had saved him, when everyone had turned away. It was his mission to find him, and stay by his side. The clerics taking care of him believed that he was a spirit charmer, and Soren didn't know enough to say otherwise, but that stupid lie meant nothing to them, the slavers.

He was a fool. He had made it so close. He had seen Ike, his blue hair with his headband tying it back, his training sword at his side at the market with his father. But the crowd was daunting and Soren was small. He tried to push through and tried to call out, but his voice was easily drowned out. 

After finally breaking free of the crowd he couldn't see them anymore. But he had a lead, he had hope. He would see Ike again! And this time he wouldn't lose him.

Well, that was what he thought. In fact, unbeknownst to him at the time, the Greil Mercenaries were in the area to deal with the laguz slavers wandering about and causing trouble. Unfortunately, they caught wind and got away before the mercenaries could do anything about it.

But not before obtaining him.

"Well, well, well. Look at what we have here." Soren had been cornered in a dark alleyway. "A little branded, what were you trying to pull wandering around like this? As if you're fit to walk among us filthy subhuman." One of the men said. 

"What are you talking about? What do you want from me?" Soren asked, fearfully. 

"What do we want? Oh, you're coming with us of course." The man tried to grab his arm but Soren dodged his grasp. 

"Let me go! And I won't hurt you." He brandished his wind tome from his rucksack. All the magic the sage had taught him(had beat into him) was still fresh in his mind. He could defend himself.

The man laughed along with his companions. "Lookie here, the little subhuman can do magic. I thought subhumans thought human weapons were beneath them. Where are your fangs and claws?" 

"I don't have any fangs or claws! I'm not a subhuman." Soren explained defensively. "I'm a spirit charmer."

"Spirit Charmer my ass." Another man spoke up. "Just because you can do magic doesn't make you a spirit charmer, you're a branded if I've ever seen one."

Soren didn't hesitate. "Elwind!" He shouted and the sudden gust of wind from the spell cast knocked all the men over and he tried to make a break for it. Almost succeeding too, until a hand grabbed his ankle and sent him tumbling to the ground, tome flying out of his hands.

"Nice try subhuman."

And so began his hell.

Now five years later, any glimmer of hope was difficult to find, transferred from one depraved person to the next, all of them obsessed with the only dragon branded in existence.

It was through his first owner, that Soren discovered that portion of his ancestry.

But Soren was too much for all of them, and now he was sent to the man who prided himself on collecting the rarest of subhumans, the Duke of Tanas... Oliver.

Soren didn't want to even imagine what would happen to him when that fat disgusting man got a hold of him.

They hadn't moved for awhile, ever since that sudden stop from before, and Soren wondered what was going on. Were the traders taking a break?

But very faint in the background he could hear strange noises, swords clanging, and the feral ones growling, as if there was a battle going on!

Were bandits trying to raid this shipment?

Soren wasn't sure if that was better or worse than his correct predicament... who knows where he would end up now...

But maybe they would be sloppy. Maybe there would be a chance of escape!

Maybe he could see Ike again...

The waiting for the battle to end felt like it took eons, but it came eventually and he could hear the noises of a group approaching where the crates were.

"Oh my god this is awful!" He heard a high pitched female voice say.

Had the slavers lost? What was going on?

"Open the rest of the crates, we need to see if there are anymore people trapped." Said a commanding male voice.

Soren wanted to shout. To say something! But his voice was so hoarse after all these days of travelling, barely having anything to drink. All he could do was wait.

Soon enough, they got to his crate, and the top was pried off, Soren cringing from the sudden influx of bright light from the outside.

As his vision adjusted he heard a gasp. “It’s you!” 

No. It couldn’t be. Soren couldn’t believe it. After all this time… he was all grown up but, Soren would know that face better than anyone.

“Ike…?”

~*~

_“Who...Who are you? Really. You're so calm, so full of peace. I can't believe you're a simple monk.”_ Ike questioned.

“I am.” Sephiran replied. “But just as you noticed my plight, I notice your own, Ike of the Greil Mercenaries… There is a powerful enchantment placed upon your mind, as repayment for saving me, please allow me to free you of it. You deserve to know the truth at this point.”

“Huh?” Ike questioned, confused. “What are you talking about?” 

Ike watched in trepidation as Sephiran picked up his staff and wielded it, casting a spell. “What are you doing?”

But it was as if nothing happened. 

“The return of your memory will be gradual, but please know I did this to help you…”

“What did you do to me?” Ike demanded to know. He knew little about magic but from the little tidbits he picked up from Rhys he knew enchantments like the one the monk was describing were dangerous. 

_“If you'll forgive me, I must be going. Fare thee well, young warrior. I am certain that we will meet again.”_

~*~

Ever since that day, horrible memories haunted Ike’s dreams. He would wake up from nightmares most nights with the image of his father impaling his mother on his sword burned into his brain. It was a horrible sight and sleep no longer came easy. 

He was almost convinced that the monk had put some kind of curse on him, but he had Rhys check him over and there was nothing… 

There was one other thing as well, something that if the monk had cursed him… didn’t make any sense. The times that he slept and didn’t have nightmares, that was because he was dreaming of something else, or rather someone else. A small boy, skin and bones, clearly starving and so scared. 

The image of that boy haunted him nearly as much as his mother’s death, the wound of that was old and healed, if a bit raw now. But that boy… he had promised, promised he would go back for him, and never did.

This is why Ike couldn’t believe that the monk had put a curse on him, for it just made too much sense for him to be telling him the truth. There is no way that Ike would ever abandon someone in dire need like that, especially if he had promised to help them. Him forgetting completely was the only way.

He had no idea what happened to that boy… Did he even survive? The thought that he might not have was sobering. What if the sandwich Ike gave him wasn’t enough to stave off the starvation he was clearly going through? He had to know, he had to find out the truth. 

After he finished this job with Princess Elincia he would return to Gallia, start from that village where their family lived before, and find him, and discover the boy’s fate. For his peace of mind he had to know. 

But he never expected to find him so soon, and definitely not like this.

Curled up in a crate, being transported by Laguz slavers, just as thin as when they had first met as children. 

“It’s you!” That mark on his forehead was unmistakable. But what would this boy be doing amongst Laguz slavers? He looked Beorc, he couldn’t see any of the tell tale laguz features, no ears or tail, and no wings.

“Ike…?” The boy questioned. He recognized him!

“Hey it’s gonna be okay. I’m gonna get you out of there, we took care of the slavers, you’re free now you don’t have to worry about them anymore.” Ike reached in and scooped up the boy into his arms to help him out of the crate. He barely weighed anything!

“Can you walk?” Ike asked him and the boy shook his head.

“I don’t think so… I’ve been in there for a while. Thank you.” 

“That’s okay. You barely weigh anything, carrying you is no trouble. What’s your name?”

“Soren.”

“Soren… that’s a nice name.” It was nice to finally put a name to the face. It suited him. Ike carried him toward where Titania, Mist, and some of the other Greil Mercenaries were setting up camp.

“Hey Mist!” He called out to her and Soren flinched in his arms, startled. “Sorry about that. I didn’t mean to scare you.” Ike apologized. 

“Hey Ike, what’s up? Who’s that?” Mist asked as she approached them. Soren clung to Ike’s tunic and buried his face into his chest.

“This is Soren… he’s banged up pretty bad. He was inside one of those crates, was wondering if you could help me fix him up?” 

“Sure! Let me grab my staff.” She left but Ike could feel Soren shaking in his arms. 

“Hey it’s going to be okay.” Ike reassured him. “It’s just Mist. She’s my sister and she’s harmless. You’re going to be fine, and I don’t want any of those cuts getting infected.” 

Just what had Soren gone through all this time?

~*~

Soren found it difficult to believe his eyes. It really was Ike, not a dream, not a hallucination. But Ike was here, saving him once more. Lifting him up into his arms like he weighed nothing (considering how toned Ike's arms seemed and just how thin he was, that was probably the case), and carrying him to his camp.

For the first time in years, Soren felt a modicum of safety, of reassurance in Ike's arms, even if Ike's sister with her perky attitude put him off. 

Soren knew though however, his days were numbered. Soon Ike would put two and two together as to why he was a captive in the subhuman slave trade even though he was a Beorc, supposedly. And once that happened, once his secret was revealed, Soren didn't know what the future would hold. 

Ike was the only person in his entire life who had never hurt him. The thought that that would change once he found out the truth, was painful.

Mist returned. "Got my staff! I'm not the best healer, so it's only a heal staff, not a mend one. But I did bring you some vulneraries."

"Thanks Mist." Ike replied. "It'll be okay Soren, let Mist heal you up." Soren gulped but nodded letting Mist run her healing staff over his body, his hand gripping into Ike's tunic so tightly he's surprised the fabric didn't rip. 

The unusual sensation of the healing magic washing over him caused him to shudder as his bruises faded and major wounds closed. Once Mist finished she left to go assist a man named Rhys who Soren could only assume was the primary healer of Ike's group.

"Let's go into my tent now and I'll get you patched up with those vulneraries." Ike brought him inside a moderately sized tent and placed Soren on top of his cot. "You're going to have to take off your clothes..." Ike explained, his cheeks turning a light shade of pink.

This was nothing new to Soren. He nodded and began to remove his clothing as best he could, eventually only leaving himself in his smallclothes. He looked up at Ike's face and couldn't help but push himself away, seeing his expression, full of anger. 

"You were already healed..." Ike said in disbelief. "How could they have done this to you?" He questioned angrily. "How could you still be so badly hurt?"

"Ike...?" Soren asked, he didn't understand what was happening, was Ike... angry? On his behalf?

"Soren... I'm so sorry that I didn't come back for you like I said. I meant every word of my promise. I don't know if you would believe me but, a powerful mage placed an enchantment on me, so I had completely forgotten that entire day. I only just recently regained my memories." 

Oh.

_Oh._ That made sense.

"I wanted to look for you as soon as I remembered, but I'm caught up in this job for Princess Elincia of Crimea. My plan was to search Tellius for you when it was all over, but it looks like I found you along the way."

Ike... really did care. All these years, all that time, wanting to find Ike, to see him again, still left that tiny, niggling moment of doubt in his mind. That maybe Ike hadn't come because he just didn't want to. But that wasn't true!

"Thank you for saving me." Soren said.

"No need to thank me." Ike replied. "Now let me take care of those wounds alright?" Ike cracked open a vulnerary and poured some of the liquid into his hand. "Now this might sting." He warned as he started rubbing the liquid all over Soren's bruises and cuts.

It did sting but it was nothing compared to the pain he was currently in. Nothing compared to the turmoil that raged in his heart, knowing that Ike was being so caring, when he was keeping that secret from him.

But that didn't last very long.

Ike brushed Soren's long hair out of his face and gasped.

"Soren... why are your ears like that? Are you a Laguz?" Soren braced himself. He knew this was coming. He knew that Ike would notice sooner or later. His ears were a dead giveaway.

"No." Soren replied.

"But Beorc don't have ears like that..." Ike said.

"They don't."

"Then what are you?" Ike asked. Soren couldn't help but hunch in on himself. He should've lied. He should've not said anything. He should have never let Ike find out. Even if he was the only person he could trust, even if he was kind hearted and helped him when no one else did that didn't mean that Ike was different from anyone else. That didn't mean that Ike didn't think that the Branded were anything other than cursed by the Goddess.

But he couldn't lie. Ike deserved the truth, it was the least he deserved after everything he had done to help him.

"I'm a Branded." Soren explained.

"A Branded?" Ike asked confused. "What's that?"

He didn't know? He really didn't know? "A Branded is a child born from a human and a subhuman."

"You mean a Laguz?"

"Oh, yes." He thought that was obvious. Didn't everyone know what a subhuman was?

"Please don't call them that. I have a lot of Laguz as my friends and part of my mercenary group." Ike explained and Soren ducked his head. He hated subhumans but he would do it for Ike.

"I won't anymore."

"That's good." Ike continued putting the vulnerary liquid on him, but there was still no reaction to what he had said before...

"Ike?" Soren questioned.

"Yes?"

"Are you not going to say anything?"

"About what?"

"About the fact that I'm a Branded!"

"Is it important?"

Soren couldn't believe this. "Of course it's important!” He exclaimed in shock. “Being branded is such a taboo. It violates every teaching of the goddess. And of society. We are untouchables. Abominations. Condemned to a life of hatred and shunning from both races. That's what this mark is for." Soren pointed at his forehead. "So that our sin can never be hidden. That's why you had to save me, back then, and now, because no one cares about us, we're just scum. I’m nothing! I don’t belong anywhere! Doesn’t that sicken you?"

Soren let it all out in one big burst, all his fear, his insecurity, everything he thought about himself. He knew Ike would reject him, but living a lie just wasn't going to happen, and now that he was free of the slavers, and soon free of the only good person to ever exist in his life, he would end it.

"No. It doesn’t change anything. You’re still you, Soren. I don't give two figs who your parents are or what other people think. I'll stand by you, and if people try anything, I'll protect you."

What?

He'd protect him?

This didn't make any sense. Any person he had ever encountered hated him, even ones that were nice at first. Once his heritage was discovered he was shunned, he was tossed out, he was beaten. Or in the case of the slavers, taken.

No one had ever said it didn't matter. No one had ever looked at him beyond the mark.

No one had ever protected him.

No one except _Ike._

Of course Ike would be like this, the only person who had ever helped him... what a fool he was to think that he would act any different now about this.

The feeling of relief that flowed through him was palpable. 

If Ike wouldn't reject him, then maybe, for the first time, he finally had a friend? Finally had someone to rely on... could finally feel _safe_.

And then there was Ike, right in front of him, looking down with such a concerned look on his face. Soren couldn't hold it back anymore, couldn't hold back the emotions that were hiding behind his facade for all these years, all the way back to when he was just that scared child, begging for help.

He broke.

Soren could feel tears well up in his eyes. He leaned forward and buried his face in Ike's chest, wrapping his arms around him and sobbing, finally safe in the arms of the only person he ever trusted. 

**Author's Note:**

> I've been a fan of Ikesoren for three years and this the first time I ever managed to complete a fic for these two! Hope you enjoyed please leave a kudos and comment if you did! :) Means a lot


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